When the Lights go Out
by LoveInLlanview
Summary: Ben, Vivian, and Violet have discovered something strange about their new house. Are they being visited by ghosts?
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note- We do not own American Horror Story and we won't be getting paid for writing this fiction. It is for entertainment purposes only.

 _This chapter was written by Melissa and AngelsInstead._

 **Chapter One**

"You're going to die in that house."

"Hush Addie, you're going to frighten our new neighbors."

"I'm just speaking the truth mama, everyone who lives in that house dies. They may not know that their dead, but they are."

"That's enough Addie, go back inside and wash up for dinner."

"I'll go, but I'm warning you, keep the lights on. They seem to be afraid of the light," Addie stated as she disappeared inside of her house.

"You'll have to excuse my Addie, she means well, but she has a very overactive imagination," the woman stated as she took a puff on her cigarette.

"It's no problem really, I'm Ben and this is my wife Vivian and this is our daughter Violet."

"It's nice to meet you all. I'm Constance, I'm sure that we'll be seeing lots of each other, but I best be getting inside," Constance stated as she watched the last remains of the sun fading behind the mountains. The darkness was coming and she knew all to well that wasn't a good thing.

"It's nice to meet you as well," Vivian called out as Constance hurried inside of her house and shut the blinds.

"Did she seem scared to you?" Violet asked.

"I'm sure that she just wanted to spend some time with her family, just like I want to spend some time with mine."

"That's so cheesy dad, I'm going to be upstairs unpacking," Violet stated as they headed into her new house and she headed up the stairs.

"Violet, Violet, come and play with us," she thought she heard someone whispering as she climbed up the dark stairs and headed into her room.

"It's just your imagination," she told herself as she turned on the lights, and began to unpack.

Even with the lights on, she could feel the hairs on her arms standing up. She felt as if she was being watched, she should feel unsettled, but the rush of adrenaline that her fear was causing was a natural high unlike any other feeling that she had ever felt before.

It was getting late so she turned off the lights and began to drift to sleep until she heard the sound of children's laughter coming from her closet. She crept out of bed and snuck to the closet door. She gasped as she opened the door and saw that she wasn't alone.

When Violet opened her closet door, she saw two ghostly pale boys with red hair, freckles, and mischievous smiles. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my closet?" Violet demanded.

The boys just laughed. The chilling music of their giggles was terribly creepy. "Tell me who you are!" Violet once again demanded.

"Our names are Troy and Bryan," said one of the twins. "We died in this house. So many died."

"Well, I don't believe in ghosts," Violet said with a heavy sigh as she sat down on her bed. "And you're not going to scare me and my parents out of our new mansion."

"Now go away!" she hollered. Suddenly, the twins disappeared... as if they hadn't even been there at all. Violet shook her head. This house was very strange. She was tired - exhausted really... but tomorrow she'd do some investigating. The first place she was going to look was in the attic. You could learn a lot about a house and it's history while searching the attic.

Violet yawned. She lay her head back on her pillow and soon she had fallen asleep. In the night, as she lay sleeping, a dark figure stood over her bed. He was watching her chest as she was breathing. She was light and she was love. She was everything he needed to feel whole again. He knew it - _he had to have her_.

"Violet," he said, whispering her name.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Ben and Vivian were having an argument. "I never wanted to move to LA anyway," Ben complained. "This house... there is something creepy about this house... and our neighbors just confirmed it. The realtor said that couple who lived here before us were murdered in this house. Both of them died... downstairs; in the basement."

"We're here because you cheated on me... with that little slut ~ Hayden. We're here because our son was stillborn... that's why we're here," Vivian reminded.

As they were talking, Ben saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was a lovely young woman with gorgeous red hair. She was wearing a skimpy maid's uniform. She was pretending to dust the furniture in the study, but with every sensuous movement of her body, she turned to look at him, gazing at him quite seductively. Despite his best efforts at being faithful to his wife, Ben could feel an erection forming in his pants.

"Ben, what are you looking at?" Vivian demanded.

She looked into the study and saw the elderly woman who was dressed as a maid. Moira was carefully dusting all the furniture. "Why are you looking at her in that way?" Vivian asked Ben.

"Who... who is she?" he asked.

"Her name is Moira. She's the maid. She comes with the house," Vivian replied, wondering why Ben was licking his lips as if they were suddenly dry. What the hell was wrong with her husband? Was the elderly maid turning him on?!

But to Ben, he could see the apparition as if she was young and vibrant. Her breasts were so firm and round. They were spilling from her sheer, lacy top. He wanted to fondle them. All he wanted was to touch.

"Ben, are you listening to me?" Vivian asked sharply.

Ben had to get his mind off sex. He had to work things out with his wife. But how? The maid was so luscious... and he wanted a taste of her... just one sweet taste.

Moira, the maid, had been a ghostly presence in the house ever since Constance had lived in the mansion many years ago. In an upstairs bedroom, she had been violated by the master of the house. When Constance saw her husband rutting upon the maid, she assumed they had been having an affair. She pulled out a gun and fired two shots. One penetrated deep into Moira's eye. She died instantly.

Constance had her boyfriend bury the young maid in the backyard. Soon after, she ground up her husband's body, feeding his flesh to the dogs. From that time forward, Moira had been trapped. She could never leave. The men who came to live in the house always saw her as a beautiful temptation while the females saw her as an elderly maid with one bad eye.

"Vivian, are you sure you want her working here?" Ben asked, his eyes on the maid's sexy legs. They were long and lithe. He could imagine them wrapped around his buttocks as he thrust into her deep and hard.

"Of course, I'm sure. I can't keep up with with all the housework. This place is huge."

Ben didn't say a word, but Viv must trust him again or she wouldn't let such a pretty young thing be working in their home. He had to keep his hands off the maid and concentrate on his wife. They hadn't had sex in months... not since the loss of their son.

"Let's go upstairs, Viv. I want to make love to you," Ben urged.

XXooXX

Violet had awakened in the middle of the night. She was cold. There was a great draft. It felt like icy fingers gliding over her skin.

"Is someone there?" she whispered into the darkness. "Please, if you're there, speak to me."

To her shock and surprise, a voice replied... but this time it wasn't one of the rambunctious twins. "Hello, Violet," he said. "My name is Tate. I came to tell you that you're in my room... and you're sleeping in my bed."


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter_** **Two**

 _This chapter was written by Angels and Melissa._

"How...how do you know my name and what are you doing here?" Violet asked as she sat up in bed.

Tate sat down next to her on the bed as he stared at her, she was so beautiful, full of light, while he would never be anything but darkness. He pondered her question, he didn't know how he knew her name just that he did. "I don't know, maybe it was destiny's grand plan that I should know, because we're fated to be together forever," Tate said as he took her warm hand and held it in his icy one.

"Your hands are so cold, are you dead like the twins? Are you a ghost?"

"No, I'm not dead, like the twins. I'm very much alive, but you're right my hands are cold, maybe it's because I have no heart. Well, obviously I have a heart, but my mother says that I never use it. I used to think that I was incapable of feeling anything but then you showed up and changed all that. I feel so much...so many new emotions that I didn't think I was capable of."

"What are you doing here?" Violet asked.

"Well, like I said this used to be my room and I guess I just wanted to see it again. Sometimes, at night I have a hard time sleeping, I have a nightmare about taking a gun to school and shooting everyone. I know, it's not real, but it's always the same dream that haunts me. Maybe if I slept here in my new room, I can finally dream about something else. Would you let me stay here with you tonight?" Tate asked.

XOXOXO

"I'm sorry Ben, I can't...I need more time. Will you sleep on the couch tonight?" Vivian asked.

"You won't even let me sleep in the same bed as you?"

"I can't, not when the image of you sleeping with that tramp is still so fresh in my mind. I'm trying to forgive you Ben, I really am, but I still don't trust you and I can't let you back into my bed until I do," Vivian said as she headed up the stairs alone.

Ben sat down on the couch and wondered how long it would take for his wife to let him back in her bed. He didn't want to be unfaithful, he never had, but damnit he had needs.

"Don't worry Ben, I'll take care of your needs," Moira said as if she was reading his mind. Her maid's uniform was so short and her legs were so long and luscious as she walked over to him and plopped herself down onto his lap.

"What...what are you doing?" Ben stammered as his erection ached to be inside of her. Her skin was so soft and her vagina was so inviting as it nestled up against his erection.

"It's okay Ben, I can see how much you want me, how much you need some attention. I can take care of all of your needs and your frigid wife never has to know," Moira whispered in his ear.

XXooXXoo

Violet wasn't sure if she should let the young man remain in her room with her, but there was something about him. It was in his eyes... or perhaps it was in his smile in which she could sense was very rare, but he smiled for her. His smile melted her heart and melted her defenses. Any other guy showing up in her room, she would have thrown out in an instant. But not him... not Tate. Was it something he said?

When he said, " _Maybe it was destiny's grand plan that I should know, because we're fated to be together forever_ ;" those words and the sincerity in which he said them, did something to her. It made her feel it, too - as if destiny somehow was drawing the two of them together.

But even so, could she really trust Tate? Maybe he was a ghost just like the twins, but Violet wasn't like other girls. She was drawn to strange things, like haunted houses, black roses, and other oddities, and she found Tate intriguing, especially his nightmare. She wanted to help him.

"Why don't you stay awhile?" she said as she looked up into his amazing eyes. "Tell me about the nightmare you have been having."

Tate couldn't help but smile when he heard her invitation. She wanted him to stay. He sat down on the edge of the bed, very close to where Violet was lying beneath the blanket. He wanted to crawl under it with her and absorb her warmth. He was so cold. Only her heat and her light could transfuse him with what he needed so badly.

She urged him to speak about his dream, so quietly he began to tell her about the images that had been haunting him. " I prepare for the noble war. I'm calm; I know the secret. I know what's coming and I know no one can stop me, not even myself. I kill the people I like. Some of them beg for their life. I don't feel sad. I don't feel anything. It's a filthy world we live in. It's a filthy, goddamn horror show. There's just so much pain, y'know? Honestly I feel like I'm helping to take them away from the shit and the piss and the vomit that runs through the streets. I'm helping to take them to somewhere clean. There's something about all that blood. I am drowning in it. After it's over, I come back to my room. I lay down on the bed. I try to rest, but I can't. I know they're coming for me. It's just a matter of time."

"Who's coming for you?" Violet asked.

"The police. They know what I've done. They are coming to shoot me. They don't understand - I saved those kids. I saved them from the hell of life. They are in a better place now."

"Do you think they went to Heaven?"

"I am sure of it. It's only kids like me who stay in Hell... and Hell is on Earth. It's not some fiery place down below with devils and demons. It's here, Violet. And all I want is to try to protect you. I want to stay here and protect you, because you are everything I've ever wanted. You are full of so much warmth ... so much light. I need you and you need me," Tate said as his hand slowly reached out. Very softly, he ran a caress against her cheek. A spark of electricity surged through him. He knew then that he had no other choice. He had to make Violet stay **FOREVE** **R**.

XOXOXO

Ben groaned. The temptation was so great. Should he fuck the maid? Would his wife never know?

Vivian already didn't trust him, but the maid felt so good... and Vivian was rejecting him. Just because he slept with Hayden just that one damn time! It was just a little mistake. How could Vivian be so cruel?

"Come on, Ben. I know you want to fuck me. Slide your big, hard erection deep inside me," Moira urged.

"I- I want to... but I can't," Ben said as he found himself pushing her away.

"What?" Moira said in surprise. She was sure that Ben was just like all the other guys - a cheater - and he would have fucked her long and hard, even though his wife was upstairs.

"I already cheated on my wife once... with one of my students," he admitted. "I can't do it again. As much as I want to..."

Moira walked out of the room in disbelief. This wasn't over. She would try again. She had been so close to revealing that Ben Harman was nothing more than a cheating snake and unworthy of his beautiful wife. She didn't like him and she didn't trust him. Her loyalties were with the lady of the house.

After Moira left, Ben walked over to the window. His cock was still rock-hard. His erection refused to deflate. He needed relief so he took his cock in his fist and began to pump it up and down. "Ohhh yeah!" he said in a moan as he was working toward a tremendous orgasm.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

 _Written by AngelsInstead_

Ben continued to grasp his thick, throbbing erection as he pumped it fiercely in his hand. He was cumming! As he was splattering his sperm against the glass of the window, he was thinking about his beautiful wife, the sexy maid, and Hayden - his gorgeous student who had spread her legs wide for him.

Someone stood outside in the shadows, watching as he cried out as though in agony. He was sobbing as he came, because despite his release, his wife had rejected him. He wanted to bury himself deep inside a warm, willing woman, but he could not.

To his horror, he realized a creepy-looking man was staring at him through the window and had seen him beating off. He covered his privates with his hand as he stepped away from the window, but it was too late. The man had seen everything. Ben heard muffled laughter and knew that the man was laughing at him. The laughter was grotesque, like the cackling of a maniac.

Who was this weird guy watching him through the window?! Something about him didn't look right. He had a horribly burned and disfigured face and his eyes - his eyes looked hideous and demonic.

Scared out of his wits, Ben pulled his boxers up. He closed the blinds and went to go lay down on the couch. He thought of his lovely wife sleeping peacefully upstairs in their bed. How he longed for her. The emptiness he felt inside gnawed at him like an unfulfilled hunger. He needed a woman. He needed sex. If Vivian didn't let him back into her bed soon, he was probably going to be driven to cheat again. He closed his eyes as visions of naked ladies danced around in his brain. He forgot all about the creepy man. He did not know he was haunted.

XooXoo

Violet breathed deeply, soothed by Tate's caress. As he touched her, his hands got warmer. He was drawing off her energy. "Go to sleep, Violet," he said softly. "I will watch over you."

Other apparitions peered into the room, but Tate kept them all away. He spoke to them with his mind. "This one is **mine** ," he said telepathically as he lay his claim upon Violet. "She's going to stay here with me forever."

"Tate, don't be a fool," he heard a voice answering back to him.

It was Nora, the woman who had loved him like a mother. His own mom had never made him feel safe, but Nora had always protected him. He loved Nora with all his heart.

"She's alive. You can't keep her," Nora warned.

Tate didn't listen. He lay his head down on the pillow next to Violet's, watching her breathe. She was alive and warm. She was everything he wanted and needed. All through the night he stayed with her in the darkness but in the light of morning, he had disappeared.

Violet was lying in the bed all alone. She woke up and looked around in confusion.

"Tate?" she whispered. "Where are you?"

Had his presence only been a dream? She crawled out of bed and walked to the closet. She pulled the door open, expecting to see the twins there, but all she saw was some clothes and a pile of boxes.

She realized she was all alone in her bedroom. She let out a sigh as she got ready for her day. It was her first day at her new school and she wasn't looking forward to it. She wasn't like the other girls; she was different. She always had been, because she liked the dark things, like seances and voodoo dolls. She wasn't into wearing a ton of makeup and having the most fashionable clothing. She could have cared less about those things. She wondered where Tate may have gone because he intrigued her.

After Violet showered and put on jeans and a t-shirt, she hurried downstairs where Moira was making breakfast. "Honey, have something to eat," Vivien urged her teenage daughter.

Violet grabbed a blueberry muffin and stuffed it into her mouth. "I'll be late for school, Mom," she said. "I have to get going.'

"Let me drive you," Vivien offered.

"No... I don't need my mommy going with me," Violet said. "I'll be just fine."

"Okay, honey. Have a good day."

Vivien watched as Violet walked out the backdoor, carrying her backpack. "I hope she'll be alright," Vivien said to Moira. "It's hard to adjust to a new school."

Moira brought Vivien a fresh cup of coffee. "You better keep a close eye on her," Moira warned. "Especially when the lights go out."

"What do you mean?" Vivien asked, feeling uneasy.

Before Moira could answer, Addie came into the kitchen without knocking. "I brought you a cupcake," she said as she handed it to Vivien. "Eat it."

"Ohhh well..." Vivien said as she looked down at the cupcake which was smeared with chocolate frosting. "I really shouldn't."

"EAT THE CUPCAKE!" Addie insisted.

Vivien was about to raise the cupcake to her lips to have a bite when Constance burst in and said, "No, don't eat that!"

"Why not?" Vivien questioned.

"Because Addie put something in the batter. Didn't you, Addie?" Constance urged. "Tell the nice lady what you put in the cupcake batter."

Adelaide just giggled. "No," she said, refusing to tell.

"Adelaide!" Constance said sternly. "You march right back home and stop bothering our neighbors!"

Adelaide let out another giggle before she hurried off through the back door. Constance sat down across from Vivien as she said, "Don't mind her; she's just a half-wit. I gave birth to three children, bless all their souls, and only one of them was born for greatness - my precious Tate. Too bad he wrecked it all..."

Constance's voice trailed off as Vivien asked, "What was in the cupcake?"

"Believe me... You **don't** want to know," Constance stated as she shook her head.


	4. Chapter 4

_Written by AngelsInstead_

Violet felt uneasy as she stepped into the school building. There was something about it that gave her the creeps as though she had just walked into a horror movie. She couldn't shake the feeling of deja vu that struck her although she had no idea why the strange and intense feelings were assaulting her. She had no clue about the horrific school shooting that had occured within the school or that she was sleeping in the shooter's bedroom now within her new home.

As she walked the halls, she tried to act calm and nonchalant. She wasn't dressed all fancy like the other girls who were wearing the latest styles and had perfect hair and make-up. Violet had never cared about those things. She was a free spirit and being fake for the sake of appearances had never appealed to her.

It seemed that everyone was staring at her - the new girl. A few laughed and others just turned away as though bored or disinterested. But as three girls approached, Violet felt a sinking feeling in her gut. They didn't look friendly - just the opposite. The leader of the three named Leah began to attack Violet viciously with her hateful words. "So, you're the **new** girl here? Why do you look like such a freak?" she hissed.

"Excuse me. If anyone is a freak here, it's you!" Violet responded as she tried to move out of the way of Leah and her friends, but they were blocking her from moving toward her classroom.

Leah was puffing on a cigarette. She put it out on Violet's shoe, smashing the ashes onto Violet's canvas shoe with the toe of her designer boots. "You live in the Murder House," said Leah. "Everyone knows it's haunted. A LOT of people died in that house. Is that why _you_ moved there? Are you some sort of strange goth girl or ghost investigator? Do you like communicating with the dead?"

Violet wanted to slap the little bitch, but she didn't want to get kicked out of school on her very first day. "Get the FUCK out of my way!" Violet bit out.

"Everyone dies if they live that house," Leah said in a snotty voice. "Either you're going to die... or you'll end up burning in the fires of hell!"

"Don't turn the lights out!" Leah's friend added. "Because if you do, the ghosties will get you!"

All three of the girls laughed as Violet brushed passed them, hurrying toward her first class. *I hate this school already,* she was thinking to herself. As she made it through the school day, no one was friendly or really nice to her at all. Everyone stared at her as if she were some sort of freak. They were talking about her behind her back which made Violet feel like crap. What were they whispering? Did it have something to do with her new house?

Violet ended up in the library in the late afternoon. The librarian was wheelchair bound. He was one of the few people who struck up a conversation with her. "So, how was your first day?" he asked.

"It pretty much sucked," Violet stated. "Everyone's acting so strange. I don't know what it is... but they keep saying odd things about my house."

"Yeah, well, that house has a lot of history. And hardly any of it is good."

"Really? What happened there?"

"A few years back, a teenager lived in that house. One day he came to school carrying a loaded weapon. Because of his actions, I ended up in this wheelchair, but I was one of the lucky ones."

Violet swallowed hard. "Others were... hurt?"

"Several students died," the librarian stated.

"Why? Why would he **do** such a thing?"

"Because not everyone is good, Violet. There is evil in this world... far greater than anything you could even possibly imagine."

Violet felt uneasy after her conversation with the librarian. She decided to search the library and get information about the house where she was living. They called it the Murder House because so many had died there. She remembered the ghostly twins in her closet and the other apparitions she had seen.

When she found a book written about the tragedies in her own home, she opened it up to a page and stood there completely stunned. Tate's face was staring back at her. He had been the school shooter. Not only had he brought a loaded weapon into the school building and shot several students and a teacher, he had also set his stepfather on fire. She felt sick as she read about Tate's deadly rampage. Then to top it all off, she read that Tate had been killed by the police in his own bedroom which was now HER room.

She dropped the book as a wave of nausea struck her. She had seen and conversed with a ghost and he had been a killer. As she was staring down at the book, a voice whispered in her ear. "Even the devil was once beautiful."

She turned to see Leah, her greatest hater and tormentor. Why did Leah hate her so much? She had never done anything to her!

"Don't talk to me!" Violet said as she picked up the book and closed it quickly.

Violet walked away so that she could check out the book before the dismissal bell rang. She had a lot of reading to do. She wanted to find out everything she could about the "Murder House."

XooooXoooo

Meanwhile, Ben was in his study, talking to his first patient, a troubled teenage boy. "How can I help you?" Ben asked.

"I have violent tendencies. I think I might kill someone," replied his client. "Actually, I keep having dreams..."

"What do you dream about?"

"I walk into the school with a loaded gun. I am walking the hallways and I know they have to die."

"The kids that bully you?"

"No," responded the teenager. "I kill the ones I like. I am going to set them free from the filth and stink of this fucked up world."

"Do you think you could really harm someone?" Ben asked as the teen was staring off in the distance. Ben didn't know it, but his daughter Violet was standing in the doorway of his study, listening to every word that was being said.

"I can be dangerous," was the soft response of his patient, but he wasn't talking to Ben. He was speaking to Violet, who stared at him with wide eyes. _She knew_. She knew that he was no longer living. She looked at him with full knowledge of WHO and WHAT he was.

She ran upstairs, hurrying toward the bathroom. She was clutching her stomach, because she was feeling terribly nauseated. Not only was she attracted to a ghost, but a violent one - one who had killed.

The urge to hurt herself, to cut became overly strong. After her mom had lost the baby and her parents had almost split up, the cutting had became a way for her to release her anguish. She reached into the medicine cabinet and pulled out a razorblade, ready to run the sharp edge against the soft flesh of her arm.

Suddenly the lights flickered in the room and Violet tensed, knowing she was no longer alone. HE had appeared out of no where. He was staring at her as she gazed at her own reflection in the mirror. He took the razor blade from her and tossed it aside.

"I won't let you hurt yourself, Violet. I am your protector," he said.

"Even the devil was once beautiful. He had a pretty face," she replied. "But then he became dark and tainted, just like you are, Tate."

He suddenly grabbed her, turning her around in his arms. "Where did you hear that?" he demanded.

She shrugged, despite his tight hold. For a ghost, he had excellent control. She couldn't have escaped him, even if she had wanted to.

"A girl at my school named Leah."

"Leah..." he said as if he knew the name. He was struggling, but the memories were no longer clear. It all seemed like a lifetime ago. WHAT had he done? He grimaced as if in pain as he tried to remember.

"Tate, you killed people," she said in a voice of agony. "You took a gun to school and you **shot** them..."

"I- I wouldn't do that. I couldn't!" he protested.

"You did and I can prove it."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Violet stood in her bedroom as she pulled the heavy book from her book bag. She opened it to the page which described the school shooting. She showed Tate his photograph along with the pictures of each and every one of his victims. As he looked at the haunting photos, his eyes filled up with tears. "I did it. I took a gun to the school and I killed them. I am a murderer."

"Why would you do that?" Violet demanded. "Why would you hurt anyone?"

"You don't understand, I killed the ones who were good to me. I wanted to SAVE them."

"That makes no sense!"

"I used to live here, in this house...this - this is... WAS my bedroom," he said as he looked around.

"We've already established that. I need to know why you killed those kids!"

"Because... Because of what happened here inside this house. It was **hell** to live here. I wanted to die, but that would be too easy. I wanted to take them out, too, the good ones, so I could save them from the filth and stink of this ugly, fucked up world."

He traced the face of one of the victims, a blond girl with a gorgeous smile. "I remember her. She was good to me. She was one of the few who accepted me and called me her friend."

"What was her name?" Violet asked.

"Her name was... Her name was Lizzie. She was Leah's older sister."

Violet's heart sank. That's why Leah instinctively hated her, because she was living in the home of the criminal who had taken her sister's life. "Leah hates me because of you."

"I'm sorry, Violet. I know you think the worst of me, but you don't know. You don't know what happened here... up in the attic and in the basement. Terrible... awful things..."

"What kind of awful things?"

He looked like he could bolt at any second. Tate was frightened as the memories of the past made him tremble and sweat. "She... she never loved me. Not really."

"Who didn't love you?"

"My mom. She was mean to me. She hurt all of us. Her and my stepdad... but after what he did, I made him pay, too."

"You set him on fire."

"Yeah," Tate said. "He's still alive... but he's scarred for life. He'll never hurt anyone again."

"Tate, you can't just go around killing people and setting them on fire."

"I snapped. You don't know. I was tortured, but worse than that, they tortured THEM."

"Who?" Violet asked.

"My brothers and my little sister. They hurt them because they weren't perfect. She said I was the only perfect one, but she treated me like a prized horse, just like a pet or a possession. She demanded perfection from me; always insisting and coercing. She didn't know that the flaw existed deep within my mind. I need professional help. Your father's a shrink; I think he might help me."

"Tate, you're a goddamn ghost! What can my dad do for you, after what you've done? Killing kids, crippling a teacher, and setting your stepdad on fire!"

"I am sorry I did those things. I truly am, but if you only knew..."

"I guess you'll have to tell me." Violet sat down on the bed, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for Tate to explain his actions to her. "Start from the beginning."

"My dad was cheating on my mother. We had just moved into this grand, beautiful house. It was just like a palace. We were so happy or so I thought. I was the firstborn child... my mother's perfect angel. I made her happy at first, but my dad made her abusive and angry. He was screwing the maid or so she said as I heard them arguing. One day I heard a gunshot go off upstairs. Then I saw my mom dragging my dad's bloody body into the basement. 'Tate, go watch the little ones,' she said. She spent hours in the basement doing something unspeakable while I had to take care of my 2 brothers and my baby sister," Tate stated. "She ground my dad's body up into dog meat while I did my best to take care of Beau, Michael, and Adelaide."

"Adelaide? Addie is your sister? And Constance is your- your mother?" Violet questioned in surprise.

"Yeah," Tate said with a nod. "I loved them _soooo_ much - my little brothers and my sister."

"What... what happened to them?"

"They weren't perfect like me. Beau, he was severely handicapped. He was a freak- or so my mother called him. She kept him chained in the attic where he screamed in agony day after day. So my mother had my stepdad go up there and kill him..."

"Ohhh my God!"

"I tried to help him, Violet. I brought him food and Addie, Michael and I would sing to him. I tried everything. He just wouldn't stop screaming."

"I know you did, Tate," Violet said gently. "You tried to help him, but you were a little kid, so you couldn't. It wasn't your fault. Your mom and your stepdad were so cruel."

"They... they did worse to Michael," Tate said tearfully. "His skin was as pale a snow. He had pink eyes and he couldn't go out into the sunlight. Mom called him a goddamn albino. She kept him locked up so no one would see him. She treated him like the scum of the earth. She always hurt and slapped him. Then when she got really mad, she told her Larry, my asshole stepdad to take Michael upstairs and make a man out of him."

Tate began to sob mournfully as the awful memories came to him of his siblings' horrific abuse. "Your mother is such a bitch! How could she do that?!" Violet cried.

"After Beau and Michael were dead, she rubbed my head and she said, 'Tate, you're the only one of my offspring that is perfect. You're the only joy I have in this world, considering your baby sister Addie is a half-wit.' Then she told her disgusting husband that he could use Addie that way too. I knew what she meant since I knew that my stepdad had raped and murdered Michael. I had to save her, Violet. _I had to save my baby sister Adelaide_!"

"Ohhh Tate!" Violet gasped as she cried for him. Hot tears were streaming down her face when she heard what he had endured. Only he and Addie had survived, but their wounded hearts were covered in scars. Tate had lost all touch with reality. That is what had driven him to commit such horrible crimes.

"I had to save Addie, so I went to his work and I splashed him with a can of gasoline. I lit a match and I set him on fire. He'd never hurt another kid again. He was burning right before my eyes. His flesh stunk and singed as I watched him frying in the flames. I wanted to send him to hell painfully, just as he had killed Michael and my little brother Beau. After that, I went to school carrying an automatic assault rifle. I was going to war. I was going to save all those kids I cared about... send them to some place better; away from the rotten, fucked up world. I shot them, then I shot my favorite teacher. As I watched them bleeding and dying, I felt nothing. Everyone hid from me and I left the school building. I went home and walked into my bedroom ... _this_ room. I only had one more person I had to kill. It was my mother. She didn't deserve to live anymore. What if she hurt Addie? What if she harmed my baby sister?"

More tears fell as Tate continued with his tragic story. "I didn't get to protect Addie from my mother, because the police came. They opened my bedroom door and pelted me with dozens of bullets. I fell on the floor, bleeding... then I died. I don't remember much after that, just my mother screaming. 'You killed my baby! He was my **precious** one!' And then she knew - I wasn't the perfect son she had always longed for. I was tainted. Michael, Beau and Adelaide; they were the perfect ones. I was the one that should have died, never them - never my brothers. What they said about me was true, Violet. They said, '"Even the devil was once beautiful. He had a pretty face. He was perfect. But then he became dark and tainted, just like me.' I am just as evil as they all said I was and I deserve nothing but hurt and darkness."

Violet reached out and lightly caressed away Tate's tears. How was it possible for her to feel the salty warmth of those droplets that ran down his face? He had died long ago, but because of their strong connection, she was able to make physical contact with his apparition,. "Tate, you're not evil... you're not bad. You were abused and tormented. You saw horrible things... and what your mother and stepfather did, it was wrong. You didn't deserve it. Your brothers didn't deserve to suffer and die. I hate your mother and what she did to you. I want to help you. I want to make things better for you, but I don't know how. Tate, please, what can I do to help?"

"You can't leave me. I need you," he implored as he hung his head in his hands and wept. "If you go, I'll be all alone. I won't be able to find the light again... and I'm afraid of the darkness."

"Tate, I am not going to leave you," Violet promised. "I am gonna stay and help you."

"Thank you," he said as he stared at her with pain-filled eyes. "I want to make things better. For Addie. Can you help my little sister?"

"I promise. I will help Adelaide. I will protect her."


End file.
